diff --git a/common/stringop.c b/common/stringop.c
index efa3a2073..81d9b963e 100644
--- a/common/stringop.c
+++ b/common/stringop.c
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 const char whitespace[] = " \f\n\r\t\v";
 
-/* Note: This returns 8 characters for trimmed_start per tab character. */
 char *strip_whitespace(char *_str) {
 	if (*_str == '\0')
 		return _str;
@@ -29,25 +28,6 @@ char *strip_whitespace(char *_str) {
 	return str;
 }
 
-char *strip_comments(char *str) {
-	int in_string = 0, in_character = 0;
-	int i = 0;
-	while (str[i] != '\0') {
-		if (str[i] == '"' && !in_character) {
-			in_string = !in_string;
-		} else if (str[i] == '\'' && !in_string) {
-			in_character = !in_character;
-		} else if (!in_character && !in_string) {
-			if (str[i] == '#') {
-				str[i] = '\0';
-				break;
-			}
-		}
-		++i;
-	}
-	return str;
-}
-
 void strip_quotes(char *str) {
 	bool in_str = false;
 	bool in_chr = false;
diff --git a/sway/config.c b/sway/config.c
index dd466e5b0..67b442ad3 100644
--- a/sway/config.c
+++ b/sway/config.c
@@ -207,7 +207,10 @@ bool read_config(FILE *file, bool is_active) {
 	while (!feof(file)) {
 		line = read_line(file);
 		line_number++;
-		line = strip_comments(line);
+		line = strip_whitespace(line);
+		if (line[0] == '#') {
+			continue;
+		}
 		struct cmd_results *res = config_command(line);
 		switch(res->status) {
 		case CMD_FAILURE:
@@ -261,8 +264,7 @@ bool read_config(FILE *file, bool is_active) {
 	return success;
 }
 
-int output_name_cmp(const void *item, const void *data)
-{
+int output_name_cmp(const void *item, const void *data) {
 	const struct output_config *output = item;
 	const char *name = data;